


saltwater

by sheriffandsteel



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slow Burn, a dating conspiracy!, i love their dynamic on the show so so much but sometimes you just wanna write a meet ugly AU, pro surfer JJ! newbie journalist Pope!, the bare minimum understanding of professional surfing!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25939951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheriffandsteel/pseuds/sheriffandsteel
Summary: Pope was thrilled at the chance to write his first cover story, even more so when it meant a free trip traveling the globe, but that was before he met the man he would be writing about.
Relationships: JJ/Pope (Outer Banks), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sarah Cameron/Kiara
Comments: 26
Kudos: 70





	saltwater

**Author's Note:**

> The surfing events in this story are based off of the World Surf League Championship Tour and the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, albeit a bit loosely. I took some creative license. You don't need to understand the rules and scoring of surfing to read the fic mainly because I myself barely understand it.  
> Is this how sports reporting is done? No probably not.  
> Do I care even an iota? Nope, not even a little bit.

If it had been up to Pope he would have met the subject of the article that could make or break his career before the event started but like many things in his life it wasn’t up to Pope so instead he shaded his eyes against the sun glinting off the waves and used the voice recorder app on his phone to take notes as he watched his subject’s first heat. 

Pope knew how lucky he was to be given the opportunity to be there, not only was it set to be his first cover story it was also with one of the most sought after and reclusive surfers in the States and probably the world. Pope enjoyed surfing; he was even pretty good at it himself (although looking at the surfers he was watching now Pope was realizing he was little more than a child on a bodyboard compared to them) but he didn’t follow it enough to know much about its current contenders. He was given this assignment because the sport’s editor Susan had just adopted her second child and she didn’t want to leave for the better part of nine months directly afterwards. Even though Pope had only just been promoted from the intern floor eight months ago his articles were quickly gaining traction on their website as the most clicked pieces and Susan had believed enough in his skills to submit him for the piece. 

So, there he was, ankle deep in the sunbaked sand of Coolangatta beach watching the man whose performance and attitude over the upcoming months would either lift Pope out of editorials and fluff pieces to bigger material or knock him back down the ladder until he was barely clinging to the last rung. 

Judging by all the things Pope had read up about JJ Maybank and his avoidance tactics of the press Pope wasn’t quite sure he liked his chances. 

“He’s good.” Sarah, the photographer the magazine had sent to accompany Pope, tracked JJ’s progress through her viewfinder her finger snapping nonstop on the shutter. 

“He’s a five-time world champion.” Pope deadpanned not bothering to take his eyes away from JJ to look at her as he responded, “Good doesn’t even begin to cover it.” 

It took four whole days before Pope finally managed to corner JJ at the poolside bar of his hotel. He’d been staking the place out all morning knowing JJ wasn’t on the docket to compete that day and according to the many fansites Pope had scoured and JJ’s own social media even when he wasn’t riding a wave he was never far from water. Whenever he was on dry land there tended to be a drink in his hand. Pope had taken his chances by loitering outside the pool all day and at midafternoon it paid off. 

JJ stalked across the concrete to the bar, his sandals slapping against the pavement and an easy smile on his face. He reminded Pope of a jungle cat; lithe, lean and ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble. Although in JJ’s case he was just as likely to be the start of the trouble. 

Pope waited until JJ had a drink in his hand and was lounging back on a chaise before approaching him. His stomach was twisted up with nerves and he was clutching his phone and his press pass so tightly his knuckles popped. His throat suddenly dry Pope came to a stop at the foot of JJ’s chair and tried to speak around the lump in his throat. The pressure of the moment was making his pulse pound in his ears and he found himself oddly lightheaded as he stood in front of the man that was the subject of the most important part of his career to date. 

JJ stirred as Pope’s frame blocked the sun from his view. He pulled his sunglasses down the slope of his nose enough to peer over the tops of them at Pope. For a moment his expression was unreadable and then he slid a long slow look up Pope’s body that made Pope shiver despite the bright sun shining down on him. 

“You want an autograph or something?” JJ finally asked when it became apparent that Pope wasn’t likely to speak anytime soon. 

The question was enough to shock Pope out of his stupor. “No! Sorry.” he added quickly, afraid that he had offended JJ by his quick refusal. Pope gestured to himself helplessly while he mentally kicked himself for already starting off on the wrong foot. “I’m Pope Heyward. I work for _Radiance_?” Pope winced at how much it sounded like a question and he could see JJ’s smile sliding off his face with each disastrous second that passed. Likely he was as disgusted by Pope’s unprofessional rambling as he was. 

“I’ll be writing the article about you for the Tour.” Pope finished lamely, thankfully managing to make it a statement and not a question. He was tempted to keep talking but he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself in favor of watching JJ survey him with a cryptic look on his face. 

Minutes passed before JJ spoke again and when he did what he said was not unexpected based off what Pope had read about him but he still felt it like a blow to the chest. 

“I don’t like reporters. Just show up at the events and watch me. You’ll get enough shit for your story there.” JJ pushed his glasses back up his nose and crossed his arms behind his head. 

Pope stared down at him in shock. He managed to keep his mouth from falling open but it was a very near thing. He'd told himself something like this might happen but Pope still felt woefully unprepared now that it had. Clearly JJ had no idea how much was riding on this for Pope. This was the first big article he’d been given, his first assignment outside of the city. This was Pope’s chance to get on a regular sports beat, to get out of the feel good fluff piece closet. He still wasn’t sure if he had what it took to be a journalist (or if he even wanted to be, but that was a tangent for a different time) but this was his chance to prove it, one way or another. JJ was his chance to prove it. 

Something told him that telling JJ any of that would only make him less likely to talk to Pope, not more. Still he knew he had to win JJ over to his side somehow and he had nine months to do so. In the meantime, he could at least hopefully get a few impersonal answers. 

“Why’d you even agree to the article if you weren’t planning to sit down and talk to me?” 

JJ sighed, whether at the actual question itself or the fact that Pope hadn’t listened to his dismissal and walked away, he wasn’t sure. 

“It wasn’t my idea.” JJ reassured him causing Pope to roll his eyes. He hadn’t thought that JJ Maybank, the man who had several times been filmed using parkour to get away from paparazzi, who once tweeted he was ‘allergic to microphones’, would ever have come up with the idea to do a cover feature and let a journalist tail him for the entire Championship Tour. Still he’d agreed to do it and Pope hoped he could at least walk away from this meeting knowing why. It might be able to shed some light on how Pope could get him to agree to work with him in the future. 

JJ must have caught Pope’s eyeroll because to his surprise he continued talking. “My sponsors keep ragging on me to get more press and this feature seemed like the easiest way.” 

Pope’s brow furrowed at that. He knew asking his next questions was stupid, it could easily lead to JJ pulling the feature but still Pope had to ask it. He felt like he had to know the answer, like it would shine a light on JJ that would show Pope some way to get through to him. “Easiest? I’ll be following the whole tour, I’m with you for most of the next nine months. How is that easier than meeting someone for lunch and letting them ask you questions?” 

JJ shrugged, slow and languorous even with his arms still tucked behind his head. “At least this way might be entertaining. Besides, I figure I don’t have to do much more than I already am.” 

Pope balked at that. “You’ll have to talk to me eventually.” He tried to keep both his fear and his hope out of the statement but he wasn’t quite sure he succeeded with either. 

Moving one hand out from behind his head JJ pulled his sunglasses down enough to level Pope with a heavy lingering stare. Pope shifted under the weight of it, lips slightly parted as he thought of an argument that would cause JJ to see sense or at least take pity on Pope’s fragile hold on his career and let him interview him. 

Before Pope could come up with something clever to say JJ shoved his glasses back into place as he said carelessly, ”We’ll see.” 

Pope lingered by the edge of his chaise until JJ flicked a hand at him lazily, “Get out of my light.” Pope really didn’t want to leave on that phrase or make it seem like he was willing to take orders from JJ but he still didn’t have a good enough argument to convince him to interview and leaving seemed better than standing there speechless with his mouth open so Pope turned stiffly on his heels and left. 

True to his word JJ didn’t speak to Pope the rest of their time in Queensland. He was impeccable every time he was on the waves and he was nearly as unreachable on dry land. Pope tried to catch him alone several times but he never got the chance. 

Pope was a jittery mess the entire twenty hour drive down the Australian coast to the next event but Sarah kept up a steady stream of chatter that was almost enough to take Pope’s mind off things. 

The next morning Pope quickly made his way to the beach, determined to get there in time to speak to JJ. It took him a lot longer than he’d expected to locate the man but finally he spotted his bright green shirt and headed his direction. The sound of AC/DC’s ‘Hells Bells’ started playing signaling the first heat of the day was starting. JJ looked up as Pope approached and his eyes narrowed before he quickly shook his head and turned his back on Pope. 

Pope faltered to an uncertain stop, torn between going over there and demanding JJ let him interview him and walking away and coming up with a better strategy. Pope didn’t want to be the type of journalist to bully people into a quote and he had a feeling JJ wouldn’t react well to that kind of treatment even if he was. Reminding himself that JJ was in the next heat and he was here to compete not tell Pope all his secrets didn’t make it any easier for Pope to turn and walk away but somehow, he managed it. 

The heat went well and JJ was sitting in first place for points so far but as soon as he got out of the water the crowd separated them and he disappeared before Pope got the chance to snag him into conversation. Chewing on his lip in exasperation Pope paced the beach for an hour until he realized wherever JJ had run off too, he wasn’t going to be coming back to this strip of beach anytime soon. 

Disgruntled Pope headed back to his motel room where he opened his laptop to the ridiculous number of tabs he had open about JJ. First there was his shockingly light Wikipedia page. It listed only the basics; birthday (August 12, 1999), height (6’0’’), where he grew up (Outer Banks), and awards won (the sheer number of which made Pope’s head spin). It didn’t state anything about his family or how he got into surfing, a glaring absence compared to nearly every other pro surfer Pope had researched. 

The next tab was the first (and only) feature article JJ had ever consented too. Pope checked the byline for the posting date, December 28, 2017. It ran just a week after JJ’s first win as the WSL Tour champion at age 18. The article painted JJ as a bright eyed but immature young man, calling him out for his erratic moves and dangerous aerials. It very nearly outright claimed that JJ only won first because the front runner from New Zealand got caught in the wash in a tunnel that collapsed early. The point difference between them was the smallest margin in WSL history. The author went on to claim that when asked about it JJ laughed and was quoted to have said “Better luck next time.” and showed no sign of showmanship for his narrow win. The light it painted JJ in was not flattering or objective and every read made Pope’s blood boil a little hotter. No wonder JJ was so reluctant to get interviewed again after this piece of trash. 

Next was a think piece speculating on whether or not JJ would be on the 2024 Olympic team. It mentioned in great detail how JJ was considered a front runner for the 2020 team. It had been the first-time surfing was an Olympic sport and fans and sports commentators alike were convinced JJ Maybank would be one of the two men representing the US. Unfortunately, he’d suffered a dislocated shoulder right before tryouts and didn’t make the cut. According to the article fans were certain he’d not only be going to Paris next summer but bringing the gold back with him. 

The final tabs were JJ’s twitter and Instagram profiles both of which had well over a million followers. His twitter was mostly memes and surfing anecdotes as well as the occasional link to YouTube compilation videos of his own wipeouts. His Instagram feed was endless, as far as Pope could tell he posted nearly every single day and had done so for years. The pictures fell into six categories: scenic shots of the water, random animals, JJ with friends (usually the same two who Pope recognized as other professional surfers on the tour), semi artistic shots of random objects with obscure captions, JJ surfing, and JJ shirtless. 

It was a wonder to Pope how someone who posted so many photos of himself half naked would be so averse to the press but JJ seemed to enjoy being an enigma. JJ had the largest online following of any professional surfer on the scene and scrolling through his feed Pope could see why. You didn’t have to know anything about the sport to appreciate those abs. 

Pope snapped his laptop shut at the intrusive thought, shaking his head vigorously as if that would unthink it for him. JJ was a source and nothing more than that. Pope was not about to start appreciating his admittedly well-toned body because that would lead to nothing but confusion and heartache and Pope had time for neither of those. He had an article to write and it was past damn time he got a quote for it. 

His self-directed indignation fueled him all the way to JJ’s hotel where he was unsurprised to find him drinking by the pool again. Pope lingered by the foot of his chaise and forced his eyes to not drag over JJ’s bare torso. Instead he kept them on JJ’s face watching as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes and stare up at Pope with an unreadable look. 

“Thought you’d have given up and left by now.” JJ remarked before taking an obnoxious slurp of his drink. 

Pope shrugged carelessly before flopping down onto the empty chaise beside him. He tried to keep his voice nonchalant as he quipped, “And give up a free world trip? Why would I pass that up?” 

JJ let out a light laugh and raised his glass in silent salute. “Glad you’re at least getting something out of this.” 

Pope had taken a few media classes in college about interviewing a source and watched countless lectures of ways to get people to trust you. You didn’t want to come on too strong but you wanted people to know their voices mattered to you, that you wanted to hear what they had to say and would let them take their time to say it to you. 

All of the tips and tricks and pointers flew out the window when it came to JJ. Pope had a feeling he didn’t react to anything the way most people did. Still, Pope wasn’t entirely sure what came over him as he gave JJ a wry shrug and said, “What did you think I came all this way for you? Keep dreaming.” 

A startled laugh burst out of JJ and Pope could tell at once it was different than the polite one he’d given him before. This one was loud and full and had JJ shaking his head like he hadn’t meant to let it out and was annoyed with himself now. Pope realized then that that had to be JJ’s real laugh which meant the one he was so known for the few times he let himself be caught on camera for a soundbite after a competition was fake. 

Pope studied him from the corner of his eye while trying to make it look like he wasn’t watching him. JJ was known not only for his skill and unpredictable behavior but his laughs and his smiles. Pope was more than a little but surprised to realize that one of the few things known about JJ wasn’t even real. 

As if he could either sense his thoughts or feel his gaze JJ turned his head to stare at Pope disdainfully and Pope snapped his gaze away to the pool, keeping his eye on a drifting inflatable flamingo as he wondered how much else of JJ was built on a lie. 

JJ suddenly shot to his feet and stalked back into the hotel, not sparing Pope a signal look back over his shoulder. Pope watched him go with a sinking feeling in his gut as he wondered if JJ himself even knew what parts of him were real anymore and what was fake. 

The whole flight to Indonesia Sarah chattered incessantly about all the new friends she was making on the tour. She was way more relaxed on this trip than Pope was but then again, her career didn’t hinge on the article, she was selling photographs of the event left and right. One name kept popping up, Kie. Pope recognized the name and after a few minutes he finally placed her as one of the female surfers on the tour. She’d come in second last year and was fighting hard for first place this time around. 

“Do you think Kie would let me interview her?” Pope quickly interjected when Sarah paused in her story to take a breath. 

She hesitated for a moment as she considered this before shrugging and smiling brightly. “Never hurts to ask.” 

It turned out that not all surfers were as averse to the press as JJ. Kie was quick to agree to an interview and to Pope’s surprise Sarah joined them as they took a long stroll down the beach, far enough away from the competition that they couldn’t hear the announcers or bump into the crowd. After the third lingering look Pope caught between the girls, he finally tuned into what was happening. He had enough quotes from Kie to write up a quick article for the _Radiance_ website so he excused himself and left them alone. Sarah gave him a grateful smile as he left. 

Pope kept his eye on his phone, typing up notes as he walked. Kie had a bright bubbly personality that their readers were going to love instantly, add in the fact that she was incredibly talented, intelligent, beautiful and kind Pope was pretty sure this article was going to get a lot of hits. It made some of the muscles that had been tensed since he’d gotten this assignment uncoil. Maybe if he turned in enough side content the magazine wouldn’t be as disappointed by his colossal failure with JJ and just demote him instead of firing him. Not that being fired would be the worst thing for him. He’d only started at _Radiance_ because it was the only paid internship job he had been offered but he was still trying to figure out if this was a career he could see himself doing ten years from now. 

Water lapped at his bare feet and Pope started, looking up from his phone to realize that he’d been drifting closer to the water as he walked. He shoved his phone into his pocket and looked around him. He’d gone much further than he thought he had. He was far enough from the competition that he could no longer see any of the crowd. 

Turning in a slow circle to get his bearings Pope caught sight of a familiar glint of golden hair and he perked up instantly. He hadn’t been able to catch JJ since they’d been in Australia and it looked like now might be his perfect chance. 

JJ was sitting close enough to the water that the tide was only inches from his toes when it came in. He had his knees tucked up his chest and his arms crossed and resting on them as he stared morosely out at the waves. 

The expression on his face left little room for wonder about what he was thinking about. That angry expression could only be caused by him replaying his spectacular wipeout during his heat that morning. It had been bad enough to send him completely head over heels on what should have been any easy wave. He must have miscalculated when he stood or something because Pope had never seen him wipeout on such a tame wave before. Not that he was about to say that of course. He wanted JJ to like him enough to talk to him after all. 

Pope came to a stop beside him and wondered at what to say. He could ask JJ how he was feeling about having just received his lowest point total for a heat ever or ask about how he felt like his chances were to hold his championship streak now that he had been knocked down to fifth place. If any of his past interactions with JJ were any indication neither of those would get Pope very far. 

He chose not to say anything as he settled down on the sand beside JJ, stretching his legs out and leaning back on his hands. The tide washed over his feet and Pope wiggled his toes at the sensation, choosing to look out at the waves and pretending like JJ wasn’t there at all. 

It was a move JJ had used on him their past two interactions and Pope was hoping that it would unnerve him enough to finally get him to speak to Pope. He was still surprised when it worked and he fought hard to keep his shock off his face when JJ spoke, his voice hoarse. 

“I’m not up for playing reporter tonight.” 

Pope cast a wry look at him, “Are you ever?” 

The corner of JJ’s lip twitched but he didn’t say anything or even look over at Pope. 

Pope pulled his gaze off him and back to the water. He knew that he should push JJ for quotes or at least into scheduling a time to sit down with him. Interviewing him was what Pope was here for after all. So far, the only content he had for his article were JJ’s surf statistics which one could easily find through a quick Google search. Maybe he could add in how deeply JJ disliked the press or that his smiles never quite reached his eyes but Pope didn’t think that was the direction the magazine wanted him to take for this. 

Even knowing that he needed quotes and content Pope couldn’t bring himself to lean on JJ when he looked so despondent. He knew that his editors would be pissed at him for not using this opportunity to get quotes from JJ on the ups and downs of surfing, especially when he was clearly deep in his emotions. Pope didn’t want to be the type of reporter who took advantage of people when they were at their lows so he stayed silent. He considered getting up and leaving JJ alone to his misery but for reasons Pope couldn’t explain he couldn’t bring himself to do that either. They sat in silence and watched the waves for several long minutes. Pope kept waiting for JJ to get up and leave or tell him to fuck off so he could be alone. 

Several minutes passed and it became clear to Pope that JJ wasn’t going to tell him to leave. He didn’t seem like he wanted a conversation to distract him but still Pope found himself admitting, soft enough that JJ could pretend he didn’t hear him if he wanted too, “I’ve never left the states before this.” 

JJ was quiet for so long that Pope figured he might actually not have heard him. Either that or he was more intent on keeping up his ‘no talking to reporters’ stance than Pope had realized. 

“If it wasn’t for surfing, I would've never left the OBX.” JJ sounded so sure of his words that it rang more like a fact that a statement. Pope hesitated at the response; he hadn’t expected JJ to say anything to him at all let alone something that actually felt personal. He had a fleeting thought to ask JJ to expand on his words but one look at the broken look on JJ’s face kept Pope from opening his mouth. 

Even if he wasn’t going to get any information from JJ for his article Pope didn’t think the other man was in any state to be left alone. JJ didn’t speak to him again for the entire three hours they sat on the beach in silence but he didn’t tell Pope to piss off and he didn’t storm away so Pope had a pretty good feeling he was finally making some kind of progress. 

The tour had one last stop in Australia and Pope spent the whole time watching the surfers take on the dangerous waves of the Margaret river with his heart in his throat. The swells were easily six feet and they would break and drop at random times. It looked like the water had a mind of its own and it was unlike anything Pope had ever seen in his life. He felt nauseous just thinking about trying to surf in those waters but the surfers he was watching didn’t even hesitate before paddling out. 

It was no surprise at all when JJ quickly proved he was the best surfer of the group on those turbulent waters. He got more air, more waves, and more tricks than anyone else which made perfect sense to Pope. Of course, someone so wild at heart would do well on waves nearly as wild as he was. 

After his heats for the stop JJ was back in the top three and Pope hoped he was in a good enough mood that he would finally agree to answering some questions. Pope was unsurprised to once again find him at the hotel pool although his time he actually smiled as Pope approached him. Pope’s heart sped up at the sight, hoping that it meant that JJ would finally open up to him. 

“You want a drink?” JJ asked as Pope sat sideways on the chaise beside him so they could face each other. JJ lifted his own empty glass in the direction of the bartender and held up two fingers. 

Pope looked at him in surprise and tried to keep any trace of hope from his voice as he asked, “Does this mean you’re actually going to talk to me now?” 

“Did they teach you nothing at whatever fancy school you went to?” JJ laughed, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair so he could turn cool blue eyes onto Pope. “Never ask someone that, just start asking questions.” 

Pope felt his face heat up as JJ called him out on his inexperience. Maybe that was why JJ hadn’t spoken to him yet. Maybe he didn’t mind reporters so much, maybe he was just pissed _Radiance_ had sent such a green reporter to profile him. Pope tugged at the collar of his shirt and considered apologizing but JJ spoke again before he could. 

“This gonna be on or off record?” 

Pope was still learning to read JJ’s voice but he almost thought he sounded hopeful which didn’t make any sense to Pope. He ignored the weird swoop in his chest at the thought of what JJ would possibly want to talk to him about off record before deciding he was reading too much into things. It likely meant nothing more than JJ’s deep dislike of the press. 

“Preferably on.” Pope said as he accepted the drink the bartender passed him. The glass felt cool against his palm which helped bat off some of the heat from JJ’s gaze. 

JJ sighed long and suffering. “That’s not as fun.” he eyed Pope for a long moment and suddenly drained half his glass before shooting up to his feet. “I’ll give you ten minutes if you join me in the hot tub.” 

Pope blinked up at in him in surprise but JJ had already turned on his heels and was heading for the empty jacuzzi. He hesitated for another second before quickly following after JJ. He needed content and if this was the way to get it so be it. 

JJ was already in the tub by the time Pope reached it, his dark sunglasses back in place. Pope toed off his sandals and found himself suddenly grateful he was wearing boardshorts. He emptied his wallet out of his pocket before pulling his shirt off in one smooth motion. Pope could swear he felt JJ’s eyes on him as he climbed down into the water but when he looked up at him JJ was studying the glass in his hand like it held all the answers in the universe. 

Pope set his phone on the concrete edge between them and turned on the recorder. JJ watched him do it before sighing and knocking back what was left in his glass. 

“Set a timer too. I meant it. Ten minutes.” 

Pope did as directed and wasted no time delving into his questions. If he only got ten minutes he wasn’t going to waste a single second of them. 

The sound of his phone going off woke him up the next morning. Pope blinked sleep from his eyes as he lifted his head from his arms. He had fallen asleep at his desk; he’d been up most of the night transcribing his conversation with JJ and trying to come up with a direction for his article based off the short answers he’d been given. 

Fighting back a yawn Pope flipped his phone over and looked curiously at the attachment Sarah had sent him. She hadn’t said anything about it, just attached a slew of laughing emojis. His curiosity piqued Pope clicked on it, the headline hitting him like a jolt of caffeine. 

_Maybank’s new love from down under!_

Underneath the headline was a clearly long-range photograph of JJ in a hot tub, Pope on the other side of him. They were obviously not aware that the picture was being taken since they were facing each other. JJ’s arms were resting back on the concrete ledge and he was smiling slyly at Pope who was laughing and had one arm on the ledge between them. Their dangling hands were only inches apart and it was that lack of space more than anything else in the photograph that Pope’s eyes kept drifting too. 

Pope stared at the photo in shock for several minutes before he scrolled through the short tabloid. It was all speculation of course and everything about it was false. Not only did it claim Pope and JJ were sleeping together it also stated Pope was an Australian who a source claimed had been ‘toting along with JJ for weeks now’. 

Groaning Pope tossed his phone onto his bed and dropped his head back onto the desk. This was not at all what he needed. He’d barely gotten JJ to open up to him at all, something like this was sure to shut him right back down again. 

Not only that, who knew how his bosses would react to this. He hoped that they wouldn’t believe it to be true but still, a rumor of Pope sleeping with a source could derail his whole article and they might pull him from the piece. Pope knew that the gossip site that ran the piece was Australian based so there was a high chance that his bosses might not even see the story but Pope didn’t want to risk them stumbling upon it on their own. 

Groaning Pope dragged himself from his chair and flopped onto his bed beside his phone. He made himself dial Susan’s number before he could overthink anything. 

“Peterkin here.” Susan answered the phone in her normal brusque way and Pope would roll his eyes at it if he wasn’t so busy trying to get the bed to swallow him. 

“It's Pope. I have to tell you something.” 

He explained the article as best and as quickly as he could, defending himself being in the hot tub with JJ because it was the only way he would let him interview him. Susan was silent the entire time and when Pope finally stopped his stumbling defenses he was startled when the first thing she did was let out a laugh. 

“I can’t believe you got him on record already. I’d put money on his not speaking to you at least until the California stop.” 

The world titled and Pope closed his eyes shut tight at the falling sensation he got from her words. “What?” 

“Maybank is notorious for wanting nothing to do with reporters. Why do you think we sent you?” 

“Um because you wanted to give me a chance to test my writing abilities?” Pope asked hopefully but with a sinking sensation that wasn’t true. 

“No sweetie.” Susan’s voice was softer than Pope had ever heard it as she admitted, “We all knew getting Maybank to speak to anyone was a long shot so we sent you. You're so green you don’t have any bad habits or tricks yet and you two are nearly the same age. We thought that he might have an easier time trusting and responding to you.” 

“Oh.” Some of the tension in Pope’s chest released at that and he relaxed back into the mattress. 

“Plus, if it ended up being a fool’s errand, we figured you were the easiest reporter to spare.” 

Despite the somewhat callousness of Susan’s remarks Pope felt a lot less pressure on his article now that he knew how little the magazine actually expected him to write a decent one. Still, Pope wanted to write the best damn article any of them had ever read. He wanted to prove to them he was capable of anything, that he was not a reporter who should be overlooked. Plus he wanted to prove to himself that this was something he wanted to and enjoyed doing. 

Susan had told him that the article he had written on Kie was doing great and to get more pieces on the other competitors and having an assignment that wasn’t focused on JJ gave him a new burst of energy. After a quick shower Pope headed down to the beach as he considered which surfer he should approach first. Between the walk and something new to focus his thoughts on Pope was almost able to push the thought of the dating rumor from his mind. 

Almost, but not quite. 

Their first night in Rio Pope let Sarah and Kie drag him out for food. So far Pope had been spending most of the trip either on the beach watching the competition, in his hotel room trying to write, or at hotel pools trying to corner the illusive subject of his article. He hadn’t spent a lot of time exploring, despite what he claimed otherwise to his parents. When Sarah realized this, she seemed to be personally offended by it and insisted on dragging him out with them. 

“You have to try this.” Kie said as she shoved some kind of deep-fried pastry into his hand. They were halfway down a street lined with food carts and Pope was pretty sure they’d boughten something from every single one. All three of their arms were loaded down with food and drinks. 

Pope managed to get the pastry into his mouth and he bit back a moan at the spices coating his tongue. “Holy shit.” he muttered looking at the container in Kie’s hand as they headed for an empty picnic table and wondering if he could steal more from her or if he should go buy his own. 

“Amazing right?” Kie asked as she settled onto the bench next to Sarah who took the offered treat from her. “I tried them last year and I’ve been dreaming about them ever since.” 

Conversation stilted as the three of them made their way through the plethora of snacks and ate until they were all too full to eat another bite. 

“John B will probably be the best person to start with.” Kie said thoughtfully when Pope told her his plan to start doing short pieces on the surfers on the tour. “He’s really friendly and he’ll talk to just about anyone.” 

“Already sounds better than JJ.” Pope admitted as he took a drink of his caipirinha. 

Kie winced and looked at him apologetically. “JJ doesn’t mean to be a jerk. He just has some trouble opening up is all. Give him time.” 

Pope considered telling her he’d been doing nothing but giving JJ time, he’d given him two months of time. But it wasn’t Kie’s fault JJ didn’t want to talk to him so Pope just shrugged and played with his straw. 

“Think you can introduce me to John B tomorrow?” 

“Take it from me man, never try riding a bike while that high.” John B laughed at his own story, easy and carefree and Pope pressed a hand to his stomach in the hopes that it’ll ease some of the cramps he had after spending the last hour laughing at all of the surfer’s ridiculous stories. 

“How are you still alive?” Pope asked, settling deeper into his chair. 

“Fuck if I know.” John B snorted into his glass and Pope laughed again. 

He wished that every interview could go like this. He was having so much fun it didn’t even feel like he was working. Ten minutes in and he’d felt like John B and him had known each other their whole lives. Pope didn’t feel like he was on a work lunch interviewing a source, he felt like he was getting drinks with an old friend. 

“Enough about me dude.” John B said, leaning over to turn off the recording app on Pope’s phone. Pope protested weakly, he had more than enough content to write a host of articles about John B. It was a shame he wasn’t a contender to be the champion this year or Pope could have a cover article written by the end of the week. 

“John B what the hell?” a familiar voice caused Pope to sit up straight and he looked up to see JJ approaching their table, face scrunched up in annoyance. 

“Oh shit is it two already?” John B looked at his watch and groaned, staring up at JJ apologetically. “My bad, I lost track of time.” 

“You been drinking?” JJ asked before taking John B’s glass out of his hand and taking a big sip. He sighed at the taste of whiskey and Pope’s eyes darted between the two men curiously. One of the first things John B had told Pope was about his friendship with JJ but Pope had started to think that JJ was cold and aloof with everyone. Seeing the warm way he ruffled John B’s hair went against everything Pope thought he was beginning to understand about him. 

“Not taking you on the water with this shit in your system.” JJ plunked the near empty glass in front of John B before dragging an empty chair over to their table. Pope watched in surprise as JJ sat down and turned a sharp look his direction. 

“Rest of this conversation is off the record.” he said warningly. “I don’t want to see any of this repeated in your story.” 

Pope rose an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side as he considered. He needed to get more content from JJ. Their ten minute hot tub conversation was not enough to center a cover story on. But Pope was finding he made more progress with JJ when he let him go at his own pace and didn’t lean on him. 

“Fine.” Pope agreed after a moment. Maybe seeing the way JJ acted around his friends would at least give Pope more insight on how to talk to him. It certainly wasn’t going to hurt. 

It took a few minutes for JJ and Pope to get used to each other’s presence but before long the three men were laughing and passing stories back and forth with an ease like they’d always been in each other's lives. 

Sarah didn’t have to text him the next article, this one Pope found for himself. It was hard to miss considering how many JJ fan sites he tracked (for research purposes only of course). It was a shot of them at lunch the day before although John B had been cropped out of frame. The photo had been zoomed in to just JJ and Pope and in the photo it looked like their knees were touching under the table although Pope knew for a fact that they hadn't been. The photo caught the one-time JJ had touched him, when he’d leaned over to place his hand on Pope’s shoulder so he could stare into his eyes and empathize his rant about alien abductions (“The weird part isn’t the taking, it's that the aliens keep bringing people back. They’re planning something.”) The photo made it look romantic, like they were staring deep into each other’s eyes and waxing romantic thoughts or something. The headline read, “JJ’s sizzling summer romance!” 

Pope exited the tab quickly and was grateful for the three days off between events so he had a little bit of time to figure out how to address these ridiculous rumors. 

By the time they touched down in South Africa Pope still hadn’t come up with a good plan. He wasn’t sure what to do, Susan had sent him an email with the article attached telling him she was glad he was actually getting JJ to talk to him. She didn’t seem worried at all about the gossipy rumors the author claimed to be true so Pope tried to shake his nerves about them off but no matter what he told himself they stuck hard to him. 

Pope didn’t care that people thought he was dating a man, he’d come out as bisexual when he was sixteen, he had long since stopped worrying about what other people thought of his sexuality. No, what was bothering Pope was the fact that people thought he might be dating a source. Something like this could ruin his career before it began and sure, journalism wasn’t something Pope had ever dreamed he would be doing but he was doing it now and he was going to make the absolute best out of it. He was not about to let gossip rags ruin his reputation before he’d even made one. 

The only thing stopping Pope from calling the articles out as lies were the facts that he had yet to be named in the pieces and JJ hadn’t mentioned them. 

The photos were only being taken because of JJ so Pope felt like he should follow his lead when it came to reacting to them, as much as he didn’t like the idea he knew it was the right move. No one knew who Pope was, they didn’t know they were sullying his good name. The photos were all because of JJ’s fame so Pope felt it was only fair if he responded the way JJ asked him too. The articles would likely affect JJ way more than Pope in the long run. 

Pope didn’t know why JJ’s fans were going so rabid over the photos. As far as he could tell JJ had never given any indication of his sexuality. He never posted photos with partners and he never sat through an interview long enough to get asked about his dating preferences. Pope had far more important questions to ask him than about his sexuality so the question had never even crossed his radar. 

It didn’t matter to Pope whether or not JJ liked guys, just like it didn’t matter to Pope if JJ was single or not. He assumed that he was since he had yet to see any sign of him having a partner but considering how closed off JJ was Pope wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’d been married for three years and somehow managed to keep it from public knowledge. The man seemed adverse enough to press to keep that part of his life private. Pope was willing to let him to. He didn’t care if JJ was dating anyone. 

Although, Pope should probably ask about his dating life if the subject came up. Readers loved that kind of thing after all. It would sell a lot of copies, get a lot of hits. That was the only reason to ask of course. Pope didn’t want to know because he was curious or anything. he certainly hadn’t started to get obnoxious butterfly feelings every time he saw JJ. That would be extremely unprofessional and just because being a journalist wasn’t Pope’s dream job didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be great at it. 

He only managed to snag two minutes alone with JJ the entire time they were in South Africa. With how little content he had Pope was considering telling the magazine to pull the story and send Sarah and him home but he wasn’t about to just pass up the rest of this free trip. Plus, he had started to develop a pretty good report with the rest of the surfers on the tour and even a few of the event staff. He had a host of smaller pieces he’d turned into the magazine and they were all doing well traffic wise. And if he was being really honest with himself Pope didn’t want to give JJ the satisfaction of succeeding in freezing him out. 

Their conversation in South Africa might have been brief but it played on repeat through Pope’s brain the entire trip to Tahiti. He’d found JJ on the beach, in one of the rare times he’d been alone. John B and him and been attached at the hip for weeks. 

JJ leaned back on the sand and grinned up at Pope, his smile widening as Pope sat down beside him and tried not to huff about how hard it was to speak to him alone. He was back in first place after some truly excellent surfing and Pope could feel the self-satisfaction wafting off of him like a wave. 

“Hey there’s something I’ve been wondering.” JJ’s voice was calm but Pope still sat up ramrod straight. It was so rare that JJ ever willingly started the conversation first, let alone asked him anything. 

“Shoot.” Pope said, his throat suddenly dry. He had an unerring feeling he wasn’t going to like whatever came out of JJ’s mouth next. 

“If I don’t win will your story still get the cover?” 

Pope sighed as he thought that over. It wasn’t as bad as he’d expected JJ to ask him but still it didn’t point towards anywhere good. This was a line of thought he’d been chasing for a few weeks though so Pope didn’t have to think long before answering, “Probably not. They’ll still run it of course, waste of money not too, but it’ll be a smaller feature.” 

JJ turned his megawatt grin over in Pope’s direction and Pope shifted under the weight of it. It was JJ’s fake smile, his ‘I can’t avoid this camera’ smile, Pope was pretty sure he had yet to see the real one. 

Feeling the need to say something Pope shifted sand through his fingers and said, “You have to win for both of us now.” 

If JJ rolled his eyes Pope couldn’t tell because of his sunglasses. JJ looked almost sincere as he agreed, “I’ll do my best.” 

The waves in Teahupo'o were like nothing Pope had ever seen. Not only were they huge they also broke with loud crashes Pope could hear even from the sand. He didn’t even want to imagine how bad it would hurt to get hit full force by one of those. He tried to remind himself that the surfers on the tour were the best of the best from around the world, they knew what they were doing. It did nothing to loosen the ball of nerves in his stomach as he watched them ride barrel after barrel and get tossed around like dolls in the waves. 

By the time JJ came off the water Pope couldn’t hold back his sigh of relief. He was thankful that JJ wasn’t close enough to hear him although Sarah did look up at him curiously. Not that she was one to talk, she spent the whole time Kie was out in the water whispering prayers under her breath to the time of her trigger finger. 

Movement in the corner of his eye caused Pope to look back over at JJ surprised to see him waving at him with a grin. Pope hesitated for only a moment before returning the gesture. JJ turned away from him then and Pope ran a hand absentmindedly across his chest wondering why his heart was still racing so fast now that the surfers were all back on land. 

He tried to find JJ after the day’s events were over to interview him but the man was as elusive as ever and nowhere to be found. Pope walked the beach that night, his shoes dangling from his fingers, as he tried to calm his racing mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about what JJ had meant by asking him about if losing meant he didn’t get the cover. Pope knew full well that JJ was wild and unpredictable but surely he wouldn’t sabotage his own career just to make sure Pope’s article about him didn’t get full attention? Pope felt like he still didn’t have a good enough read on the man to know the answer to that question. 

The sight of a familiar figure sitting on the sand caught his eye and Pope hesitated for a breath before he headed purposely towards him. He was here to do a job and he was not about to let JJ Maybank keep deterring him from it. 

“Hey.” Pope was a little impressed by how detached his own voice sounded as he dropped his shoes on the sand and sat down next to JJ without waiting to be invited. If he waited, he’d be standing up all night. 

JJ turned to look at him, the sun had set below the horizon so his ever-present sunglasses were perched on the top of his head. Pope felt the full weight of his blue eyes and swallowed hard at the sight of them. 

“You’re like a barnacle man. I just can’t shake you.” JJ shook his head with a wry grin that Pope did not return. 

“This doesn’t have to be a commensalistic relationship. If you worked with me it could be mutualism.” Pope refused to break eye contact with JJ so he saw the way JJ’s eyes widened slightly at the fed-up tone of his voice. 

“Bold of you to assume it's not parasitic.” JJ quirked an eyebrow and Pope tried to bite back an appreciative smile but judging from the knowing look in JJ’s eyes it didn’t work very well. 

“How exactly am I harming you?” Pope asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. 

“You’re distracting me.” 

Pope frowned at that; he’d been careful to never approached JJ before a heat so as to not break his concentration. He even lingered at the back of the crowds until JJ was in the water so he didn’t throw his thoughts off. He opened his mouth to ask JJ what he could possibly be distracting him from but JJ cut him off before he got the chance and his words were so unexpected that the thought of distractions fled Pope’s mind. 

“If you let me interview you for ten minutes, I’ll give you ten minutes too.” 

“I’m not that interesting.” It came out before Pope could think his response through and he mentally kicked himself. It was impossible to get JJ to open up and here he was turning down an offer to talk? Thankfully JJ seemed more amused that offended and he just grinned his crooked smile at Pope before nudging his shoulder with his. Pope swallowed hard at the contact; he hadn’t realized they were sitting that close together. 

“I’ll be the judge of that. What do you say? You game?” 

“Alright.” Pope agreed hesitantly, he didn’t have any dark secrets JJ could somehow use against him but he still found himself incredibly nervous. Still, if this was what he had to do to get JJ to open up to him, he’d do it. 

He watched wearily as JJ exaggeratedly set a timer on his phone, speaking the moment the numbers started coming down. Pope was a little surprised by how quickly he got to the questions, it was like he hadn’t had to think about it at all. 

“You always want to be a reporter?” 

Pope hesitated a moment before deciding that if he wanted JJ to be honest and real with him the best way to do so was to be vulnerable himself. “I’m not really sure I want to be one now.” 

JJ tilted his head at that and looked at him appraisingly. It was getting dark enough now that Pope could barely make out the color of his eyes. “What do you want to do then?” 

“I’m still not sure. I want to go to grad school; I just can’t figure out what for. I don’t want to throw any more money at school until I’m certain it’s the right choice.” Pope shrugged and tried to brush it off like it wasn’t a big deal, like he didn’t spend a good chunk of his time stressing and obsessing over the course of his future and feeling like he was fast approaching a deadline he wasn’t aware of. 

“How’d you end up with this job then?” JJ asked curiously, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. His arm brushed against Pope’s again and his breath stuttered in his chest. Neither of them moved away. 

“I moved to New York because I thought it would open more career paths. I applied to paid internships all over the city, _Radiance_ was the only one who reached out to me. They promoted me to a writer last year.” Pope didn’t add that this was his first full length feature article. JJ had probably worked that one out for himself by now what with Pope’s terrible interview skills. 

“Do you even want to be a journalist?” JJ didn’t sound accusatory, just curious. It was that curiosity more than anything that got the words and the truth that Pope had been trying to ignore for the last two years to slip out. 

“Not really.” 

The tour took three weeks off to give the surfers some time to recuperate before the next event. Pope and Sarah returned to the city to catch up on some non-Tour related work. Pope was having a hard time adjusting to being back in the office again and an even harder time to not being on a beach every day. He had never thought he would miss the feel of sand beneath his feet this much. 

Pope used the majority of his time to make some sense of his notes and transcripts of his two measly interviews with JJ. Thankfully JJ had been much more open with him the second interview but Pope still felt like he was barely even skimming the surface of who JJ was. He’d tried to keep his questions more personal this time to get a look at who the man was when he wasn’t on the surfboard but it still felt stilted, like JJ was holding back. 

The rest of the questions JJ had asked Pope had been far more neutral, getting to know you types of things. Where he was from, his age, if he was single etc. Basic questions that Pope had never had to ask him because of his Wikipedia page. Pope had tried to get him to talk about his family and his life growing up on the Outer Bank but JJ had clammed up so fast Pope was scared he’d walk away. He’d quickly switched to safer topics like some of his past reckless adventures that JJ was more than happy to recall in great vivid detail. 

Pope had enough information on JJ’s surfing and enough quotes that he managed to scrap together a very _very_ rough draft. It turned out that not only did he have way more content than he’d thought he did but he actually knew the man better than he’d thought. Still, the draft felt off like it was missing something and Pope couldn’t seem to figure out what it was. 

In his defense he did have other things occupying his mind. Mainly the fact that when he’d landed in JFK the google alert he had on JJ’s name took him to another dating rumor. Someone had snapped a photo of them talking on the beach that night in Tahiti. It was dark enough you could barely make out who JJ was but it was pretty obvious how close they were sitting even in the dim light. 

Pope had decided with the first article to follow JJ’s lead on how to react to them and since he had yet to address the rumors publicly (or to Pope which was making him wonder if he had even seen them) Pope tried not to worry about them. 

He couldn’t stop himself from pulling up the article and staring at the photo every now and then. He felt like something had changed while they sat there and grilled each other but Pope couldn’t seem to put his finger on exactly what. 

The one event of the Tour that was held in the continental US wasn’t even held on a proper beach; it was held at pro-surfer Kelly Slater’s ranch house in a wave pool. It was interesting watching the artificial waves and Pope got the chance to interview several older big names in surfing but privately, he didn’t think the event was nearly as interesting as the rest of the tour had been. It was the shortest event of the season, taking only four days to get all the surfers through. As the third day came to a close Pope found himself longing for next week when they would be in France and he could be back on a real actual beach again. 

“You wanna try it?” a voice at his ear caused Pope to turn and he tried and failed to not smile at JJ leaning on the wall beside him. Pope was standing under an awning leading down a path to the driveway as he watched a group of surfers splash each other in the pool, taking a break from the competition to unwind. 

“Try what?” Pope asked curiously, turning his back on the pool to give JJ his full attention. 

JJ grinned and nodded to the pool, “Surfing. The wave pool is a great place to learn.” 

Pope shook his head and was about to tell JJ that he actually knew how to surf when a loud angry voice called JJ’s name and Pope watched in surprise as all of the color drained from his face. JJ pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head and turned to head in the direction of a red-faced middle age man who was barreling down the walkway towards them. 

Pope hesitated for half a second before following after JJ and lingering a few feet away. This looked private but there was no way he was about to leave JJ alone with someone who looked so pissed off. 

“Do you know how fucking hard it is to track you down these days?” The man spat, glaring at JJ and coming to a stop only an arm’s length away. JJ’s back tensed at the closeness and he crossed his arms defensively over his chest. 

“The Tour posts their dates a year in advance so no I don’t.” JJ’s voice wavered slightly and Pope inched closer at the sound. He stared at the older man and tried to figure out who he could be. It wasn’t until he rolled his eyes that Pope noticed the resemblance between the two men. 

“Don’t get smart with me boy.” The man growled. 

“Why? Because you can’t understand it?” JJ snapped back immediately, tensing when the man who Pope was beginning to uneasily suspect was his father stepped even closer into his space. Movement at the end of the walkway caught Pope’s eye and he looked back to see Kie and John B heading their direction. They were both laughing until they noticed who JJ was talking to and the smiles quickly wiped from their faces as they started to speed towards them. 

Pope didn’t even see the punch coming but JJ must have been expecting it because he was able to mostly get out of the way in time. The man’s fist grazed past his ear as JJ jumped backwards, nearly stumbling into Pope. He reached his hands up to JJ’s shoulders to steady him as the man glared at them both. 

“Don’t mouth off to me. I raised you and I’m here for what that owes me.” 

“I’m not giving you anymore money.” JJ laughed like none of this was anything out of the ordinary and Pope felt his gut twist as he realized that it probably wasn’t. 

His dad clearly did not like that answer as he flew at JJ with his fists swinging. Pope used his grip on JJ’s shoulders to spin him out of the way, taking one of the punches to his back for his trouble. He barely even felt it he was too busy watching John B and Kie come flying towards them to knock JJ’s dad back against the wall. Pope moved quickly to take Kie’s place and she sped off to grab security. JJ watched with dead eyes as his dad screamed obscenities and insults at him until John B got fed up and placed a hand over his mouth. 

It only took a few minutes for security to show up but it felt like a lifetime with the way Pope’s pulse was pounding in his ears. They hulled JJ’s ranting father away and Pope watched him disappear with wide eyes before he turned towards JJ. His name was just forming on his lips when JJ was suddenly in his space, backing him up against the wall with a palm flat on his chest to hold him in place. 

Dimly, Pope wondered if JJ could feel the frantic thumping of his heart or if his own was beating too fast to notice. 

JJ glared at him with eyes that were blinking too fast to be doing anything but holding back tears. His voice was hoarse like he was recovering from a bad cold as he hissed, “That better not be in your fucking article.” 

Pope nodded agreement immediately even though he knew that something like that would make the article sell hundreds of thousands of copies. People were voyeuristic like that. They loved a good tragedy, especially stories of people overcoming them. But Pope could never include something so personal against a subject’s wishes, especially when JJ was looking up at him as vulnerably as he was. 

The moment he nodded JJ dropped his arm from his chest and stalked away from them all. Pope watched him go with eyes wide with shock. Kie moved as if to go after him but John B caught her arm and whispered, “Not yet. Give him time.” 

Pope leaned heavily against the wall and realized why JJ never talked about his family or his life before surfing. If Pope had a family like that, he wouldn't either. 

They’d been in France for four days before Pope saw JJ again. He wasn’t scheduled to surf the first few days and Pope was beginning to worry that he had skipped out on the meet entirely (which would have been disastrous for both of them) despite how many times Kie and John B reassured him JJ would be there. When he finally did see JJ again he was too far away for Pope to be able to see if he was okay but Pope still felt the muscles in his chest relaxing as the tension seemed to melt from his body. 

He tried to tell himself it was because JJ’s success during the Tour led to Pope’s success at his job but now that he had finally admitted it out loud Pope realized he didn’t really care if he was successful at _Radiance_. He didn’t want to be a journalist and he was getting tired of pretending he did. He wanted to go back to school and study science, he was leaning towards forensic pathology although he hadn’t made up his mind yet. 

The sound of his phone pinging drew his attention away from JJ paddling out into the waves and Pope looked down curiously even though he was pretty sure he already knew what it was. Sure, enough it was Susan’s new daily email reminding him to send her a draft of what he had so far as soon as possible. Pope sent the email to the trash folder without bothering to respond. He’d already told her it wasn’t ready yet and as soon as it was she’d be the first one to know. 

The truth was he did have a draft written it just wasn’t something he felt like he could share with anyone, especially not his boss. What he had so far wasn’t even in the realm of passive voice. What he had read like a damn love letter. He waxed on about JJ and his skills and the things he’d overcome and it was way too much praise and speculation and not enough quotes because he still couldn’t get JJ to sit still and focused long enough to get anything good. 

Pope watched JJ stand for his first wave and felt his heart begin to race. He wondered, not for the first time, if maybe he was a little bit too close to this subject to write the piece objectively. 

He also wondered if at this point it even mattered. JJ barely opened up to him, he wasn’t about to talk to anyone else. The magazine couldn’t pull the story now after paying for Pope and Sarah to be at the Tour for this long. One way or another this article was going to be published. All Pope had to do at this point was make sure it wasn’t a heaping trash fire or a love soliloquy. 

Should be easy enough. 

Right? 

Catching sight of JJ at the hotel bar Pope hesitated in the doorway and wondered if he should turn around and leave. Shaking his head at himself Pope shoved his anxieties down and approached the empty barstool beside him. He had a job to do, conflicting feelings about sources and futures and careers be damned. 

He sat down beside JJ nervously half expecting the other man to tell him to fuck off before his jeans had even hit the vinyl. JJ just turned a bored look his direction and spun his empty glass between his fingers. 

“You try the wave pool?” JJ asked, jarring Pope from his thoughts. 

He shook his head quickly, refraining from adding that after JJ had stalked off and not been on the schedule the following day Pope had ditched the last day of the event. 

“Too bad. Not as fun as the ocean but it’s a good place to learn to surf.” JJ leaned back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the bar, seeming to debate if he wanted another drink. 

“I can surf.” Pope admitted even though saying such a thing to a pro-surfer, especially one as talented as JJ, made him feel like he was lying. He could hold his own with the crowd back home but he was a joke compared to the people he’d been watching everyday these past few months. 

“No shit?” JJ turned to him surprised, eyeing Pope up and down like he was suddenly seeing him in a new light. Pope shifted under his gaze and ran a hand through his hair anxiously. “What beaches have you surfed on the trip? I saw your face in Teahupo’o, I’m guessing you skipped that one.” 

Pope felt his face grow warm at the thought of JJ noticing him at all. He’d thought that JJ only regarded him as a nuisance, a barnacle and a parasite even. He didn’t think he would notice him and actually remember anything about him. 

“None of them.” Pope admitted sheepishly. He hadn’t felt worthy enough to share water with any of the surfers and he hadn’t wanted to risk any of them seeing him and laughing. 

“Are you kidding?” JJ asked calmly. Pope shook his head no and JJ slapped his hand on the bar top making Pope and the few other patrons jump. “That is unacceptable Dr. Spock!” 

“Dr. Spock?” Pope asked in confusion, now JJ was giving him nicknames? 

“This just won’t do.” JJ threw some cash down on the bar and jumped to his feet, grabbing Pope by the arm to tug him up. “You have wasted so many chances to surf in international waters, what is wrong with you?” 

“A lot I guess.” Pope said dazedly, letting JJ steer him from the bar and wondering where on earth they were going and how much JJ had to drink by now. 

“Well we’re fixing that tonight.” JJ said stubbornly and Pope started and tugged his arm away as he realized what he was planning to do. 

“We can’t go surfing tonight, you’ve been drinking.” 

JJ rolled his eyes. “I had one drink hours ago. I’m fine.” 

“What if you get hurt?” Pope asked stubbornly. “It’ll ruin your competition.” 

“Better not get hurt then.” JJ shrugged and grinned, beginning to walk backwards and drawing curious looks of people in the lobby. “You coming or not dude?” 

Huffing a sigh Pope hurried after him and tried to convince himself that this wasn’t going to end terribly. 

“I don’t have a board.” he reminded JJ as they headed outside. 

“Obviously. You can rent one.” JJ flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes and grinned at Pope. “Your magazine sent you with a card, right? You can even bill it as a business expense.” 

Pope came to a stop and crossed his arms over his chest with a glare. This might work out better than he’d expected. “The only way I’m doing that is if you let me interview you.” 

JJ tilted his head back and let out a long-suffering sigh that made the hairs on the back of Pope’s neck stand on end. After what felt like an eternity he turned back towards Pope and gave the barest of nods. 

“You drive a hard bargain golden boy. You got a deal.” 

Nearly an hour later Pope was clad in a rented wetsuit and sitting straddle on a rented board in the middle of the ocean. Or at least that’s how it felt to Pope. He knew that being able to see the shore meant they were far from the middle of the ocean but he still felt so out of place that his chest hurt. 

He had to admit that he was anxious to try surfing on a new beach, he’d really only ever experienced the ones back home. He was also excited for the chance to be alone with JJ again, especially with the chance to get some answers. 

JJ was noticeably more relaxed out on the water. The ever-present tension in his shoulders was missing and he actually gave Pope more than the bare minimum of answers to his questions. The waves were magnificent but somehow having JJ speak so openly to him felt better. 

“What’s going on with your dad?” Pope finally asked as the sun started to sneak below the horizon. He hadn’t wanted to bring the subject up earlier but at this point Pope felt like it would be weirder if he kept avoiding it. 

JJ was silent for so long, bobbing up and down in the water as the waves rolled under and past them, that Pope began to think that he wasn’t going to answer. Just when he had given up hope entirely JJ spoke, his voice shaky but strong as he spoke quickly, like he was ripping off a bandage. 

“My mom left when I was three and my dad blamed me for it ever since. He was really abusive, he put me in the hospital a few times. When I turned sixteen, he nearly killed me so I left. I had no money and nowhere to go but it was better than being in that house. Only thing of value I took with me was my board. It saved my live.” JJ shrugged and stared past Pope out at the water, his voice monotone like he was recounting someone else’s life. “I got spotted surfing by a judge on the tour and they told me about it and how to go about getting qualified.” 

Pope knew that part, JJ’s right place right time recruitment was listed on his Wikipedia page. The abuse he had suspected since seeing JJ’s father but the knowledge still made his muscles tense in fury. 

“My whole life my dad never wanted anything to do with me but after I started winning championships and he figured out how much money I was making suddenly he kept popping up everywhere, demanding money for all he sacrificed over the years.” His emotions finally broke through the mask he was wearing and JJ scoffed, shaking his head as he reached up to rub his shoulder absentmindedly. “I’d give him money and he’d disappear until he spent it all and then come crawling back and we’d repeat it. I only refused to pay him once. Three years ago.” 

“What happened?” Pope prompted after JJ had fallen silent into his thoughts for several minutes. 

JJ looked up at him, his eyes surprised like he’d forgotten Pope was there. “He dislocated my shoulder.” 

Pope recoiled at the thought as his mind fit the pieces together. Three years. That was when...“The Olympic trials-” 

“Yup.” JJ cut him off quickly, clearly not wanting to talk about it any further. Pope couldn’t even begin to image the pain of your own father keeping you from achieving a nearly impossible dream so he dropped it. The pair sat in silence for a long moment as Pope digested everything JJ had just told him. 

So many things about JJ seemed to make sense now; why he never spoke of his family, why surfing seemed to be his whole life, why he often didn’t care if he got hurt or not. And of course, why an injury had kept him from trying out for the 2020 Olympic surfing team. 

“Is all this on or off the record?” Pope asked softly and he could practically hear Susan screaming at him in annoyance for the question. Still he had to ask it. He had to let JJ choose. This was his story to tell, Pope was just offering to help him write it. 

JJ hesitated for a long moment before he locked eyes with Pope and said firmly, “On.” He grinned at Pope then and splashed water his direction. “But enough with the serious shit. Rest of the night is off.” 

He had already given Pope more than he had ever expected so he nodded agreement easily and they spent what little daylight they had left surfing waves better than any Pope had ever experienced, or at least that’s how they felt with the company by his side. 

Pope couldn’t remember the last time he felt so calm and carefree around another person. He suspected that he never had but that answer did not bode well for him at all so he tried to ignore it. JJ was a source. Having feelings for him would end in only one way, badly, for everyone involved. Pope tried not to notice the way JJ’s eyes looked even bluer with all the water around him or for his stomach to flip when JJ leaned over and shoved his arm playfully while they laughed. Pope kept repeating the fact that JJ was a source over and over in his head like a mantra but one look from JJ had it all fading to background music. 

By the time Pope’s feet hit dry land he knew there were two undeniable truths that he needed to face. One: he had feelings for JJ Maybank, big feelings. Two: JJ was a source and as such Pope was totally, royally, fucked. 

To add insult to injury the following morning there was another dating article about them, complete with a photograph of them surfing. Pope clenched his jaw so tight his teeth hurt as he read it and he felt a flare of panic before he was two sentences in. 

It had finally happened. 

They’d figured out his name. 

Pope felt himself desperately grateful that all of his social media accounts were set to private as he skimmed the rest of the article. It listed his name and the fact that he was a reporter for _Radiance_. Most of the comments assumed (correctly) that he was there to interview JJ for a story. To Pope’s utter dismay that didn’t seem to deter anyone from thinking that he and JJ were hooking up. 

According to one comment, _u can rite a story about some1 and still fuck them_

Pope closed the tab after that. 

Over the past week Pope had received more follow requests than he’d ever had in his entire life. He rejected all of them and kept waiting for JJ to bring up the dating rumors, either on Instagram or on their now daily walks each evening but JJ stayed quiet on all rumor related fronts. Pope was beginning to wonder if he had even seen the rumors before he remembered there was no way that Kie hadn’t brought them up. Still, Pope had decided months past that he would follow JJ’s lead when it came to the rumors and if JJ wanted to pretend that they didn’t exist Pope was more than happy to play along. 

A knock on the door of his hotel room drew Pope from his thoughts and he looked up from his laptop with a sigh. He’d been trying to finish a rewrite of his article but Sarah had been pestering him to join her and Kie in exploring the streets of Portugal. The tour moved on in three days so Pope had known this was coming but he’d still been hoping the girls would have at least warned him before showing up. 

“Can we do this to-oh hey.” Pope startled as he realized it was not one of the girls on the other side of his door but JJ who looked up at him almost nervously. Pope couldn’t think of a single reason why JJ would be nervous to see him so he chalked it up to the bad fluorescent lighting of the hallway. 

“Hey.” JJ shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted nervously. “You expecting someone else?” 

“I didn’t expect you.” Pope answered honestly. Of all the people he thought might be knocking on his door JJ wouldn’t even be in his first twenty guesses. “It’s a good surprise though.” 

JJ grinned, crooked and wild before gesturing with his head down the hallway. “You wanna get out of here?” 

All thoughts of finishing his draft that night fled as Pope nodded immediately. 

The wind roared in his ears and Pope tightened his grip on JJ’s waist and watched the scenery speed past them. They were on the back of a motorbike JJ had rented for the day and while Pope had never in his life wanted to get on one of those death contraptions, he’d had no problem at all when it was JJ behind the wheel. Well, handlebars. 

Pope supposed it didn’t bode very well for his whole ‘stop having a crush on your source’ outlook but if he’d really been trying to stop that he wouldn’t have agreed to join JJ at all that evening. He’d tried avoiding him for a few days but as elusive as JJ had been in the beginning of the tour he was suddenly everywhere now. Maybe it was because they had shared friends or Pope was just noticing him more but suddenly Pope ran into him everywhere. 

He’s not surprised when JJ eventually pulls over near a beach. They always seemed to find their way back to the water. Leaving the helmets and their shoes with the bike they headed down to the dark stretch of sand. Something about the dark waves and the adrenaline from flying on the bike filled him and Pope found himself speaking without even meaning too. For as hard as it had been to get JJ to talk to him Pope was beginning to find it harder for him to not talk to JJ than to do so. 

“How are you doing? With you dad and everything.” JJ had told him his father never tracked him down outside of the continental States, whether because he didn’t have a passport or couldn’t afford the travel JJ didn’t seem to know or care. 

“I can’t keep letting him get to me.” JJ admitted with a shrug. He kicked at the sand and looked everywhere but at Pope as he admitted, “I filed a restraining order a few hours ago.” 

The words shocked Pope into stillness and he stopped walking. JJ made it a few more steps before he realized Pope wasn’t beside him and turned back to him with his brows drawn in confusion. 

“That’s amazing.” Pope whispered; he didn’t imagine that would have been an easy thing to do. It was likely to get out to the press too and knowing TMZ it was already common knowledge in the surfing online following. 

JJ shrugged looking embarrassed. “I should have done it a long time ago.” 

Pope shook his head and took a step closer to place a hand on JJ’s shoulder. “All that matters is you did it now. I’m really proud of you.” 

Pope didn’t know why he said that. JJ and him weren’t really friends, were they? It wouldn’t matter to JJ if Pope was proud of him or not. 

Still, JJ was looking at him with those bright blue eyes and he didn’t step away from Pope’s hand that was still on his shoulder as he whispered, “Thanks man.” 

It wasn’t until Pope was back alone in his hotel room that night that he realized JJ hadn't told him any of their conversation was off the record. He knew that Susan would be ecstatic about this but it just made Pope’s stomach clench with tension. He knew that feelings like that were one of the many reasons he would never be a good journalist. It didn’t help that his feelings for JJ were all confused and muddled together. 

Pope sat down at the desk and opened up his laptop intent on finishing his rewrite. Instead he found himself opening up a new tab and googling graduate schools. 

Before the final event of the Tour JJ would also be competing in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. The Triple Crown consisted of three events, the last one also doubling as the last event of the Tour. All three of them took place in Hawaii and there were ten days off between Portugal and Hawaii which was nice because Pope could tell that JJ (and the rest of the surfers of course) could use a break. 

Upon their arrival in Hawaii Sarah and Pope were leaving baggage claim when a small blur was suddenly throwing themselves at Sarah. 

Pope turned away so he didn’t have to watch Kie greet her girlfriend and was startled to see JJ and John B leaning against a wall a few feet away. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Pope asked in surprise, he’d thought that the surfers would have all gotten there days before. 

“We’re surfers remember? We’re competing.” JJ joked cheekily before grinning and slinging his arm around Pope’s shoulders. Pope swallowed hard at the contact and forced himself to stay still and calm and pretend his heart wasn’t racing a hundred miles a minute. “Kie wanted to be here to pick Sarah up.” 

“And she brought you two along?” Pope asked in confusion. Not that he was complaining of course. He already felt better just being in JJ’s presence. 

John B snorted. “She didn’t want to have to focus on driving on the way back.” 

Pope nodded in understanding and felt his face heat up at the way JJ’s grip seemed to tighten at the innuendo. Surely Pope was just imagining things. 

“This will be a fun drive.” Pope said dryly, startling a genuine laugh out of JJ. 

“Haven’t you learned? Times with us always are.” JJ laughed. 

It felt strange to Pope that he had spent so many months traveling in close proximity with these people but he was only just now starting to think of them as friends. He assumed a large part of that had to do with his natural shyness and distrust of most people. Another part of it was because Pope had been going about this whole article as a make or break moment for him and he had finally allowed himself to accept the truth. He didn’t want to be a journalist. Even if this article tanked it wouldn’t ruin his career because this wasn’t the career Pope wanted anymore. It honestly never had been. 

That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t going to write a damn good article of course. He owed _Radiance_ that much after the money they’d shelled out to send him along the tour and the faith they’d put in him to take on a task this big. He also owed it to himself to show that he was capable of doing such a thing. Most importantly though, he owed it to JJ. The man didn’t let people in easily, a fact that Pope understood seeing his background and knowing his own aversion to people. Pope wasn’t about to break the trust he’d put in him by writing something shitty. 

By the end of the first event of the Triple Crown Pope had nearly the full rewrite complete. He’d written as far as he could before the events were over. There was a section at the end he was waiting to finish out when the Tour and Crown were over but it would only take a few minutes to finish. All the rest was done and Pope felt strangely light about it. He was beginning to suspect the magazine had paid for him to go along with the whole Tour not just because JJ had insisted upon it but because they’d suspected it would take him that long to scrounge up enough decent content to work with. 

As hard as it had been to get JJ alone before now it was like he was everywhere Pope turned. Not that he was complaining of course it was just harder to deal with his complex feelings for JJ when he was right in front of him. The more time that passed the deeper the feelings seemed to get and Pope wouldn’t be surprised if they were written in capital letters all across his face. 

“How are things going?” Pope asked, spinning his empty water bottle between his hands. He didn’t have to clarify that he was asking about JJ’s dad. It was a subject they’d both been avoiding since JJ had told him about the restraining order but Pope felt he was being a bad friend if he didn’t ask it. Surely after all this time JJ and him were at least that. 

“Better than ever.” JJ let out a short bark of a laugh and shook his head, his arm bumping against Pope’s. “I blocked his phone and sent all his emails to spam. If he’s tried to reach me, I don’t know about it. I should have done this shit years ago.” 

“I’m really happy for you.” Pope told him seriously. He wanted nothing but good things for JJ. 

“Does this kind of shit always make you feel this good?” JJ asked seriously, turning to look at Pope with a furrow between his brows. He didn’t have his shades on for once so Pope was treated to the full force of his ocean like gaze. 

Pope shook his head, his thoughts a jumble from JJ’s bottomless eyes heavy on his. “Shit like what?” 

“Like doing stuff you know you should do but you put off for like years.” JJ shrugged and didn’t look away as he whispered, “Does it always make you feel this light?” 

“I don’t know.” Pope answered honestly, not really sure where JJ was going with this. Was he about to make some soul bearing confession? 

JJ grinned at him, crooked and a little nervous. “One way to find out I guess.” 

He didn’t say anything else as he pulled away from Pope and snapped a selfie. Pope watched him with his brow knitted in confusion as JJ typed something into his phone before pocketing it and looking up at Pope for a long moment. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow man.” JJ said looking at Pope nervously and then quickly walking away. Pope starred after him wondering what the fuck that was about. 

A lightbulb went off in his head then and Pope pulled his own phone out of his pocket so quickly he nearly dropped it. He quickly pulled up JJ’s Instagram feed and sure enough the first photo was the selfie he’d just taken. Pope had to reread the caption three times before it sank in. 

_jjmaybanks: been a lot of questions about this over the years so i'd like to take this moment to come out as a Hufflepuff. A gay Hufflepuff._

Pope had to keep checking to make sure that the ground was still under his feet. He felt like he was walking on air the whole walk back to the hotel. 

The second event passed and JJ had a healthy lead in first place for points. JJ didn’t seem at all nervous or boisterous of this fact when he pulled up to the curb beside Pope late one afternoon as he was walking back to the hotel from the beach. 

He idled on his bike in the crosswalk and motioned for Pope to get on the back. “Wanna get out of here?” 

Pope didn’t think twice before he straddled the bike behind JJ, wrapping his arms tight around his torso. The closeness made his heart race and he was so distracted by the feel of JJ muscles under his hands that he didn’t notice they weren’t going to the hotel until they’d passed the turn off. 

“Where are you taking me?” Pope called loudly into JJ’s ear. He wondered for a moment if he hadn’t heard him but JJ called back to him, “Just trust me for once.” 

Fifteen minutes later JJ pulled over on a small side street and led Pope carefully down an overgrown path. Pope followed him cautiously wondering what on earth he was getting himself into. One could never be entirely sure when JJ Maybank was involved but then again, he had been remarkably calm on the juvenile antics this year. 

After only a minute or so of walking they ended up on a sandy beach and there were two surfboards propped up in the sand halfway down the beach. JJ headed over to them purposely and Pope trailed along curiously, his mind going a hundred miles a minute. 

JJ tossed a wetsuit in Pope’s direction and he caught it on instinct before blurting, “Why haven’t you been up to your usual stuff this year?” 

“What usual stuff?” JJ asked as he began to shed his clothes to put on his own wetsuit. Pope had to focus very hard for his eyes not to stray from his face. 

“You know what I mean, the drinking, the partying, the fights. You’re well known for it.” 

JJ finished pulling the suit up over his hips before he leveled Pope with a heavy look. “I’m being good this year.” 

“Why?” Pope asked curiously. “What changed?” 

There was a brief pause before JJ tilted his head to the side and asked with disbelief heavy in his voice, “Are you joking or are you fucking with me?” 

Pope looked at him in confusion. “Why would I be doing either?” 

“You changed Pope. You changed everything.” JJ admitted, his voice incredulous like he had thought this was common knowledge Pope was well aware of. 

Pope stopped breathing. Or at least that’s how it felt. “Because of the article?” 

“I don’t give a shit about the article.” JJ laughed and suddenly in a flash Pope understood. He understood why JJ had let him interview him even though he very vocally hated it. He understood why JJ was popping up everywhere and every casual touch and lingering look. He understood the coming out post, why he’d never addressed the dating rumors, the way JJ had made sure he’d gone out surfing and seen more than the bare minimum of the countries they visited. The world seemed to tilt on its axis a little but at least everything suddenly made sense. Pope liked it when things made sense and this was no exception. 

“You like me.” Pope whispered; his voice stuck in his throat. JJ nodded once, not backing down in his gaze tight to Pope’s face. 

“You like me.” JJ returned, no doubt in his words. Pope didn’t bother to deny it. He had been just as obvious as he’d feared he’d been. 

“You’re a source. It’s unethical.” Pope managed to get his voice to work long enough to say but it was heavy and laced with regret. How he hated the words even as he said them. 

JJ considered this for a moment before asking, “What about when a source is no longer a source?” 

This was not a new thought to Pope; it was one he had been grappling with for months now. “Some people might still have a problem with it, but I’m fine with it. As long as that source is you.” 

JJ smiled at him then, slow and soft. Pope wanted to take a picture of this moment so he could remember it in vivid detail forever. “You better finish that article fast then.” 

Pope had never agreed with anything more. 

The last event of the Crown was also the last event of the Tour. It was looking like JJ would take home both titles and Pope had started to see some online chatter about JJ qualifying for the Paris Olympics at the trails in March. 

If JJ had heard about this, he didn’t seem to be affected by it at all. In fact, he seemed calmer now than Pope had ever seen him. It made sense; JJ was such a hot-headed pressure cooker himself that when surrounded by more pressure instead of it making him burst, he just absorbed it like a sponge. Pope suspected that the moment his competing was over JJ would let all of the frustration he was feeling out but for now he was unflappable. 

Knowing that JJ had feelings for him was making it a bit harder for Pope to concentrate on anything else and Sarah had to keep reminding him to eat and stay hydrated. He had been denying his feelings and trying to pretend they didn’t exist for so long now that Pope didn’t really know what to do now that he felt he was actually able to allow himself to feel these things. He let himself entertain the idea of what it would actually be like to be with JJ. Not the technical parts like how they lived in different cities and JJ traveled nearly year-round, but the good parts. Also, the physical parts. He lost way more time than he’d ever admit imagining what it would be like to run his fingers down JJ’s abs. 

Not that he was spending all of his free time lusting over JJ of course. Pope had been doing a lot of research on finding a graduate program that would be right for him and he had narrowed it down to three schools with forensic pathology programs. He would work on the applications once he got back to New York. He was done pretending he wanted to be a reporter. Not every job was meant for everyone and he was willing to admit now that he’d tried it and it wasn’t a good fit. 

Of course, he had every intention of being the best he could be at it until he got into school. His article on JJ was just another part of that. The night before the last day of the Tour Pope ran into JJ beside the pool and sat beside him, his feet dangling into the chilly water of the pool. 

“Article finished yet?” JJ asked hopefully, looking at Pope from the corner of his eye. 

“Not yet.” Pope admitted lightly splashing water in JJ’s direction and making him sputter in outrage. “Stop worrying about it. You need to focus on surfing, not what I’m writing.” 

JJ snorted and splashed Pope back, “Please. We all know I’m going to win.” 

Pope wanted to make a joke about his lack of modesty but the fact was the point gap was so high it would be nearly impossible for anyone to usurp JJ now. 

“Do me a favor?” JJ asked, his voice surprisingly timid as he fiddled with the hem of his shorts and turned to face Pope who nodded in agreement without even needing to know what the favor was. “Don‘t let me read what you wrote until after its published.” Pope was surprised by the vulnerability apparent in JJ’s voice but of course being JJ he had to ruin it by adding. “I don’t want to know how little you think of me until I’ve hooked up with you at least once.” 

“That won’t be a problem.” Pope promised reaching over to place his hand on JJ’s and give it a comforting squeeze. JJ looked down at their cojoined hands before raising his eyes slowly to Pope’s. “I think you’re amazing.” 

To the surprise of literally no one JJ won both the World Championship Tour title and the Vans Triple Crown all around. He was busy being congratulated by some people Pope was pretty sure were his corporate sponsors but Pope still managed to snag him away long enough to tell him congratulations and get a final quote for his story. JJ’s eyes were alight and his whole body seemed to be glowing and trembling in excitement from his win. Pope had never seen him so happy before and it took everything in him not to lean over and kiss him right then and there. Pope liked to think that the way JJ’s eyes tracked him leaving the beach meant he was feeling the same thing. 

The Tour was hosting a big end of season party down on the beach that evening but Pope skipped it in order to put the finishing touches on his article and send it off to Susan. He breathed out a sigh of relief as the email whooshed off and leaned back in his desk chair. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his body and he let out a long sigh of relief. 

A ding brought his attention back to his phone and Pope scanned the text from Sarah briefly before jumping to his feet. 

_hotel room party room 318. Ur boyfriend is here, where you at?_

Pope’s room was on the second floor and he took the stairs up so that he wouldn’t seem too eager showing up so soon after Sarah’s text. It was a precaution he needn’t have bothered with. He wasn’t sure how long the group had been partying but it was clear that John B was faded to the point of near incoherency and Sarah and Kie were making out in the corner although they did look up when JJ let Pope into the room. 

Surprisingly JJ looked the most sober out of all of them. He had a drink in his hand but his eyes were clear and steady when they locked onto Pope’s. 

“Congrats on the win Kie.” Pope said as he stepped further into the room unsure of where to go or what to do. He didn’t trust himself to look at JJ, too afraid that he would end up attaching himself to his face now that he didn’t have to worry about him being a source anymore. Whatever happened with the article now it was out of his hands. Well mostly. 

Kie mumbled a thanks before turning her attention back to Sarah who was kissing her neck. John B tried to throw a pillow in their direction and it landed between the beds with a soft thump. A hand on his arm caused Pope to look down and his heart started to race at the sight of JJ’s hand pressed against his skin. When JJ started walking Pope followed after him wordlessly, stepping into the chilly night air of the balcony and watching the waves as JJ shut the door behind them. 

The light coming from the room suddenly started cutting off and Pope turned in time to see Sarah wave at him before not subtly at all shutting the curtains. Pope swallowed hard in the near darkness and turned to look at JJ, alone at last. 

JJ leaned his elbows onto the railing and looked out over the empty beach. Even though they had hung out several times now and known each other for most of the year Pope found that he suddenly felt as shy as he did during his grade school days. He cast around for something clever to say but all he could come up with was, “Congratulations. On the win.” 

Why did being around JJ always make his words so much harder to come by? It was like the pathway from his brain to his mouth stopped working properly in his presence. 

“You already said that.” JJ reminded him, turning slightly to look at Pope. The weight of his gaze made every single inch of Pope’s skin burn with heat. He pulled at the collar of his shirt and fought down the urge to start shedding his clothes. “Did you submit the article yet?” 

Pope nodded, the feeling of relief rushing over him again just thinking about it. He didn’t have time to form any other coherent thoughts because JJ was suddenly in his space having closed the few inches of distance between them. 

“So, I can do this?” JJ asked softly, placing his hands on Pope’s hips. Pope shivered and nodded; he might have even managed to whisper _yes_ but his brain no longer seemed to remember how to form words so he couldn’t be sure. 

JJ’s hands were on him and their noses were brushing and then his lips were on Pope’s. The kiss tasted like saltwater because of course it did and Pope wrapped his hands around the back of JJ’s neck, threading his fingers into hair that was just as soft as Pope had always theorized it would be. 

His brain was running too fast to form any true thoughts but when they finally pulled apart for air Pope found himself grateful for the fact that Sarah had shut the curtains. So many of his stolen moments with JJ had been caught on film and he was grateful to have this one picture perfect moment without an audience. JJ was pulling him in for another kiss before Pope could share this thought out loud. He told himself he’d remember and tell him later but then JJ’s tongue was in his mouth and coherent thoughts were a thing of the past. 

A little less than a month later and the front cover of _Radiance_ was a picture of JJ on his board in the air over a huge wave as he did one of his signature tricks. It was a great picture; Sarah really had an eye for sports photography. The best of it all was the smile on his face like he was having the absolute time of his life. 

The issue ended up being one of the best sellers the magazine had ever had. Pope wasn’t naïve enough to think it was because of the article on JJ, although that did help. The issue also had a two-page spread on a musician’s wedding who had since been discovered in a sordid affair with his new wife’s sister. It was all very tacky and too tabloidy for Pope’s taste but it was selling copies. Pope was just grateful the issue had been printed before the scandal broke because JJ’s story was able to keep its cover spot. 

“This is the only article written about me that I’ve ever liked.” JJ admitted leaning back against Pope's bare chest as he flipped the magazine shut and tossed it off the edge of the bed. 

“That’s a pretty low bar.” Pope laughed into JJ’s hair and wrapped his arms around him. “But thanks I guess.” 

“Although I did like those rumor posts about my tour groupie last year.” JJ gasped out a laugh as Pope started tickling his ribs at the words. 

“They didn’t call me your groupie. They thought I was your boyfriend.” Pope insisted, although he stopped tickling JJ in an act of mercy. 

“They thought you were my lover.” JJ corrected, twisting in his arms enough so they were facing each other. 

“Well they were right in the end, weren’t they?” Pope asked, raising his brows as JJ propped himself up on his hands above him. 

JJ leaned down to brushed his lips lightly against Pope’s jaw making him shiver. His voice was breathless as he whispered into his ear, “Wanna make them right again?”

**Author's Note:**

> When I first watched this show I assumed I only liked it a little bit and now I have a [tumblr](https://popemayward.tumblr.com/) dedicated to it.


End file.
